Iberian wholesale market reporting
Most Iberian retailers do not have the bandwidth to track the wholesale market with the depth their pricing function actually needs. The reporting that is generally available is either too high-level for pricing decisions or buried inside subscriptions the procurement function does not see.
The Iberian wholesale market is one of the most analytically dense in Europe. OMIE day-ahead, MIBEL intraday, MEFF futures, the REE balancing market, the bilateral and PPA channels, the GdO secondary market, the French interconnection capacity, and the upcoming EU Electricity Market Design reforms all interact. The output is a market that rewards retailers who understand the structure and penalises retailers who do not.
Most retailers do not have the in-house bandwidth to track this with the depth their pricing function needs. The reporting that is generally available is either too high-level (OMIE bulletins, public news summaries) or buried inside commercial subscriptions that sit with procurement and never reach the people who make tariff decisions.
This note covers what a working market-reporting function should produce.
The weekly briefing
A working weekly briefing covers:
Day-ahead. Cleared prices for the week, weighted by hour and by load shape. Variances against the forward curve. Notable clearing events.
Intraday. Cleared prices across the six intraday auctions. Continuous intraday liquidity and clearing. Notable price events.
MEFF. Futures curve movements across the relevant contracts (1, 2, 3 month, 1, 2, 3 quarter, calendar year). Open interest changes that signal the position of the largest market participants.
Bilateral and PPA. Where reliable price discovery exists (it is thin in this market), commentary on the direction of bilateral pricing for fixed-term and indexed structures.
GdO. Secondary market clearing where data is available. Commentary on supply-demand balance for the calendar year.
Cross-border. French interconnection capacity and flows. Notable price differentials across the interconnection.
Regulatory. New CNMC resolutions, MITECO announcements, ERSE announcements. Brief impact commentary.
Length: 6-10 pages. Cadence: every Monday. Audience: the pricing function, the trading desk, the commercial function and the management team.
The monthly market report
Deeper analytical commentary, building on the weekly briefings. Covers:
- The forward curve at the end of the month, with commentary on the major moves and the underlying drivers
- The retailer's own positions against the market, with commentary on the hedging effectiveness
- Specific scenarios for the next 3-6 months, with pricing implications
- Notable changes in the customer landscape (competitor activity, new product launches, regulatory shifts)
Length: 15-25 pages. Cadence: first working week of the following month. Audience: the management team and the pricing committee.
The quarterly outlook
The longest-horizon document the retailer produces internally. Covers:
- The price-curve outlook for the next 12-24 months, with explicit forecasts
- The hedging recommendations against the outlook
- The product-pricing recommendations against the outlook
- The notable regulatory changes expected in the outlook horizon
Length: 30-50 pages. Cadence: quarterly. Audience: the board, the shareholders, the audit and risk committees.
Where retailers fall short
Three patterns.
Nothing in writing. The pricing function knows what they think; the trading desk knows what they think; nobody has written it down. The leadership team makes pricing decisions on impressions rather than on documented analysis.
Reporting is generic. The retailer subscribes to a commercial market service that provides Iberia commentary. The commentary is generic; it is not calibrated to the retailer's specific book.
Reporting is decoupled from operations. The market view exists in PowerPoint; the pricing decisions happen in spreadsheets; the trading decisions happen in the desk software. None of them reconcile.
How this lands in operations
A working market-reporting function is one of the highest-leverage investments a small retailer can make. The cost is modest (a senior analyst plus access to the required commercial data); the impact on pricing discipline is meaningful.
The analysis and pricing pillar covers market expertise and periodic reporting as workstream 2.
Related: Pricing design for Iberian retailers, Building analytics dashboards for Iberian retailers, Regulatory monitoring for Iberian retailers, Operating against OMIE.